Sheffield cracks down on Legal Highs

Sheffield Council and the police have teamed up to tackle the issue of legal highs after seizing the products from a shop earlier this month.

Councillor Terry Fox, the Cabinet member for Transport and Environment, said: “We hope that we are sending out a very strong message that we will work relentlessly to protect our communities and keep people safe”

Sheffield City Council’s Trading Standards Officers and South Yorkshire Police Officers successfully raided a shop that was selling illegitimate cigarettes and NPS (New Psychoactive Substances) that were of an estimated street value of £2,000.

Andy Parfement from The Cathedral Archer Project, a local charity that supports the homeless and helps those with substance abuse issues, said: “Ultimately the use of these legal highs has lead to death, though I’m not aware this has happened in Sheffield.”

“People are unaware what ingredients are being put in. If people are taking legal highs alone they are at risk of fitting with no one around to offer support.”

Mr Parfement added: “We are aware that people are mixing legal highs with prescribed medication. This has caused us huge problems as we have had to call out the ambulance service on approximately 15 times since December 2015.”

Councillor Terry Fox, also stated: “We took decisive action to protect residents last year to clear them from shops and we will continue to do so whenever and wherever they are sold, from private or commercial premises. If someone is harmed or dies as a result of a sale, the seller will face grave consequences.”

It is expected that in the Spring, the New Psychoactive Substances Bill 2016 will come into force and will ban the sale of all legal highs as well as ‘poppers’ and other substances with psychoactive effects.